The first thing to do is sew the little bit of ribbon down the center of the front bodice inset (faux blouse front) and then lap the inset under the edge of the front bodice. Mark the 1" underlap allowance to help line it up properly. Sew a small zig zag over the edge to join these pieces.

Then sew braid over to cover the stitching and raw edges.

Sew the shoulder seams and set the sleeves in with the side seams open. This makes is easier to sew more braid over the arm hole seam.

To prepare the collar for sewing, fuse the interfacing on one piece, then draw the center front line and the stitching lines (5/8" from the cut line) onto the interfacing.

To make the little split in the front of the collar, draw slanted lines starting 1/4" from the center line at the top of the collar that tapers to the center line at the bottom.

Round the front corners with something round. This is now your stitching line.

Pin the two layers of the collar together and stitch along the upper line going down and up the split. Trim and clip the seam.

Turn and press.

Stay stitch the neck at the 5/8" seam line, so it can be clipped into and open up straight to fit the collar.

After the collar is stitched on, trim the seam to about 1/4", zig zag over the edge, push the seam allowance down and edge stitch in place.

Now the side seams can be sewn all the way through the sleeve seam and the bodice is ready for the skirt. The sleeve hems can be sewn now, but try it on your Anna, first.

So now, this is what one back edge of my skirt looks like. The other side is the same. I could trim away some and sew it up where the point of the scallop is, but think I will reduce the size of the skirt a bit and sew it up at the center of the low part of the scallop. Because this bodice and skirt have a point at the center front waist, the fullness of the skirt cannot be reduce a lot all at the back or the slope of the top edge of the skirt where the front point is will be thrown off and the skirt won't hang properly in the front.

﻿But, I do want to take out some of the gathers at the top of the skirt. If you look at the artwork from the movie, the skit of this dress has very little to no gathers. So, I measured the waist of the bodice (24") and the top edge of the skirt (60") and decided to reduce the fullness of the skirt by half, which will make the skirt now 30" which will gather into a 24" waist.﻿

Since the spacing between motifs is 6" I want to take out 3" at each scallop point. So, I've made a kind of negative pattern piece for a long dart, that allows for a 1/2" seam. The pattern piece is 2" wide at the top tapering to nothing. I want the dart to stop a few inches above those flowers.

Here it is with all the darts sewn, ready to put on the skirt. The gathering will be greatly reduced but, it still needs some gathering so it will fit on the bodice.

After the skirt is sewn on the bodice, trim and finish the seam, then sew more braid over the waist seam. Leave the ends of the braid at the back seam loose. Sew up the center back seam, and set in the zipper. After the zipper is in, the braid can be folded and hand sewn in place.

Above are the motifs I've modified slightly to make easier to cut. I've combined some, so there aren't as many separate pieces. They will work for all the sizes. Just follow these instructions.There is one measurement for the bodice motif (C) and two measurements for the skirt motif (A & B). These motifs will most likely need resizing.

These are the measurements I recommend for these dress sizes, given in decimals so you can do the enlarging calculations more easily .

To figure out what percentage to enlarge the motifs. Measure what the A, B, and C are on after the artwork is printed out. Then figure out what size you want those measurements to be and go to this on line Proportion Calculator. There you will find a calculation with 4 boxes.

Fill these boxes in as follows using decimals for any fractions. In the upper left box, put in the size your print out measures, in the box just below fill in the number (100) which stands for one hundred percent. Then in the upper right box, put in the size you want the motif to be. Hit the word "calculate" and the answer will be the percentage amount the artwork needs to be enlarged. This number will probably have to be rounded to reduce the number of decimal points. Enter this number at a copy machine that enlarges and reduces where it asks for percentages to get a copy of the artwork in the size you need.

I am planning to make 10 repetitions of the skirt motif.

It is best to put the motifs on the skirt first, starting at the back. So, by the time you work your way around to the front and especially when you do the bodice motif, you will be good a this.

After the artwork has been made the size you need and that probably means some of it is on more than one piece of paper, the first thing to do is lay the paper backed fusible webbing over the resized artwork and trace out as many of all the different motifs needed. Group them by color and squeeze then in as closely as possible to save webbing and fabric.

After all the motifs are traced out, cut out the scalloped section of the skirt motif pattern including the 5/8" seam allowance on the bottom. Now, most of you will have enlarged this pattern, so that means the 5/8" will much larger than 5/8", too. Use a ruler and redraw it so it is 5/8" again.

Use this pattern to draw out as much scalloped edging as needed for the bottom of the skirt. It will have to be pieced.

Then assemble the skirt and assemble the scalloped border. Lay the right side of the scalloped border against the wrong side of the skirt. Make sure the center of the low point of the center scallop is exactly in the center front of the skirt.

Stitch these two pieces together along the bottom edge with a 5/8" seam. Press around so the outside of the scallops are over the outside of the skirt. Pin well!

When I was ready to sew, there were many more pins than you see in this photo.

First straight stitch very close to the edge and then go back a second time and go over the straight stitching and cut edge with a narrow close zig zag satin stitch.

To get the motifs straight, draw vertical lines straight up from the points of each scallop.

I like to use a Frixion pen by Pilot. Heat makes the ink disappear. So, when you iron, the marks go away. But, I still mark as little as possible.

Now it's time to fuse all the sheets of traced motifs onto the fabric. Follow the instructions for the brand of webbing you are using.

And, you can start cutting out the motifs. I like to only cut a few at a time. I find it less tedious and there is less of a chance tiny pieces will get lost.

I like to fold the paper with the motif printed on it to use as a guide to correctly space all the little cut out pieces. I find tweezers help with small pieces. They tend to stick to my fingers otherwise.

Fuse the pieces on with your iron following the instructions for the fusible webbing you are using.

My method is to do the motifs on two neighboring points and then go back and do the smaller motif in the dip of the scallop. Measuring to make sure it is placed exactly in-between the other two motifs.

Almost done ... phew. I will not do the very back motif until the dress is finished.

Time for the bodice.

Even though exact knives are not my favorite way to cut, it's the best way to cut that little hole in the bottom of the bodice motif. The rest I will cut with scissors.

I lay the special pattern I made over the printout of the bodice motif, to make sure the motif will not end up inside a dart. If it looks like that will happen for you, sew the darts first.

Again, using the folded print out of the motif is my favorite way to properly place the motif.

This bodice motif gets TINY dots. Too tiny to make with fabric and fusible webbing. I was going to do then with embroidery thread but then noticed my new Juki (that I LOVE!) makes perfect satin stitch dots!

So that is what I did. But, embroidering dots is also a good method.

I marked them with a white pencil and sewed them with my machine.

Tomorrow, sewing the dress, which will include darting out the fullness at the top of the skirt to reduce the gathers at the waist.

This week, I'm making one more dress from Frozen, Anna's winter dress, cape and little hat! I'm sorry, but I can't figure out an easy way to make her ball gown without a bunch of new specialized pattern pieces.

I will again use that basic, versatile, costume dress pattern that comes in three size ranges.

Even though it's a child size dress, everything I'm doing will work for any of the sizes.

To make this dress you will need: * Black fabric for the bodice (I used a suede cloth)* Light blue broadcloth for the sleeves, collar and faux blouse front* Royal blue for the skirt* Fusible interfacing for the collar* 5/8" light blue ribbon, tiny piece, for faux blouse front* Flexible braid for the upper and lower edge of the bodice and armhole (about 1/2" wide)* 4 colors of broadcloth (medium blue, aqua, green and pink) for skirt and bodice motifs), the medium blue is for the scalloped band at the bottom of the skirt, so a fair amount of that color is needed* Purple and yellow thread for dots on the bodice (embroidery thread if the dots are hand sewn)* Paper backed fusible webbing (Wonder Under or Heat'n'Bond)* and a zipper!

Now as far a quantities of each, you can either over estimate using the back of the pattern envelope as a guide, which is what I did and now I have a bunch of extra fabric or, if you have time, the smart thing to do is make all the pattern changes and then do a trial layout before going shopping to figure out how much fabric and trims you actually need.

The only pattern piece that needs to be changed at this point is the front bodice.

Trace out the size you will be using.

With a ruler, mark in the stitching lines, 5/8" in from the cutting line.

Draw in the neckline you think you want. (find some images of the dress for reference)

"Try it on" ... meaning, hold it up to the person you are making the dress for. It is really impossible to see how something like a neckline will look on a three dimensional figure when it is lying flat on a table.

Change the shape, if needed.

Cut the front pattern piece apart along this line.

So the little upper part can lap under the main part of the bodice, it needs an extension added. Tape on a scrap of paper and then draw a 1" extension along the bottom and side edges. Remember this piece will be cut on a center front fold.

Now the pieces are ready for cutting.

Then, these are the other pattern pieces needed from the envelope, back bodice, band collar, sleeve, front skirt, side/back skirt.

Since this dress does not go to the floor. Measure your Anna and determine the length. Again, find some images of the dress from the movie. I made this one end a the lower calf. Fold the skirt pattern up at the length chosen. Only add a 5/8" seam allowance at the bottom, not the 1 1/4" hem suggested. The bottom of the skirt is going to be finished with that band of medium blue fabric cut in scallops.

Read carefully what you should cut at this point.

Of the black fabric: front bodice (that you've altered) and 2 back bodicesOf the light blue: 2 band collar pieces, 2 sleeves and the little faux front blouse (pattern you made)Of the royal blue: front skirt - on the fold and 2 side/back skirts (these two pieces should be shorten as described above)Of the fusible interfacing: one band collar piece

Tomorrow the fun and games ... more motifs!

Actually, I don't think this dress has as many as Elsa's coronation dress. That one was crazy.

And since they WERE only $3 each, this time I decided to combine two to make one finished shirt. I sketched a t-shirt shape and then drew and re-drew lines on it until I came up with this.

I lightly drew the shape I wanted on the lighter of the two shirts and then realized I really wanted the darker one on the outside (more flattering around my hips)... SO ... I put the darker shirt inside the lighter one, put a row of straight pins on the line I drew through both shirts, turned the two shirts inside out ...

cut away the dark shirt near the pins ...

and re-pinned the whole thing, now with the black shirt on the outside.

I thought I would want to jazz it up with some trim to make it look artsy but, alas, it only made it look dopey ... not the sleek sophisticated look I was going for. So nix the rick-rack! Tried some other trims, too. They just looked wrong. This design needs to be spare.

First the two pieces need to be joined with a straight stitch about 1/8" away from the cut edge.

Again, I turn the shirt inside out and trim away the excess green, leaving about 1/2" for safety.

Now I could simply do a zig-zag stitch over the cut edge, but I have this nice new machine with cool stitches, so I tried a few out. This is the back side of my trials, since the black on black doesn't show up so well.

I chose the feather looking one on the right and here it is, very big, on my finished shirt.

I ended up just using a narrow hem on my serger for the neck. Since I didn't have serger thread the exact color I needed, I filled 3 bobbins with regular sewing thread.

I like it BUT, it is too tight around the hips, hmmmm. Godets to the rescue.

But, before I get to the godets ... I just want to warn you that the Jerzee brand "junior" fit shirts are really small. This is a medium and mediums almost always fit loose on me. Oh, I did remember to wash these shirts first, too. So, it shouldn't shrink any more.

To figure out how big the godets need to be, I open the side seams up, put the shirt back on and measured how large of a gap it makes.

I then cut pie slice shaped pieces (allowing for seams and hems) and put a faux cover stitch hem on them to look like the rest of the hems on the shirt.

Here's the back side. I serged the edge first, then ran a gathering stitch very near the edge. That stitch gets pulled up to help the rounded hem fold evenly. After pressing the hem, I machine stitch two rows to look like a cover stitch.

And now I can sew the godets in with the same tiny seam the whole shirt is made of, about 3/16ths of an inch.

The neckline needs to be cut a bit lower than it is now. To do this ...

Try the bodice on and mark the new neck line. Then fold and pin the bodice in half so it won't slip around and cut both sides can at the same time.

﻿One of my favorite edge finishes for sheer fabric is bias binding cut from the same fabric.

Here is the basic method. For finished 1/4" binding, cut bias 1 5/8" wide. In theory it only needs to be 1 1/2" (6 times the finished width), but I like that extra 1/8" for a little wiggle room.

Press the bias in half. It should now be just a teeny, tiny bit wider than three times the width of the finished bias, so a generous 3/4". Sew the bias to the cut edge using a 1/4" seam allowance, then fold it around to the back and slip stitch the pressed fold of the bias tape in place.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿But I am making a smaller bias edge, about 3/16", so I cut my bias 1 1/4", which becomes 5/8" when pressed in half. Then I used a generous 1/8" seam allowance when sewing it on, making a delicate neck edge for a tiny Elsa.﻿﻿﻿﻿

Very pretty.

Since the sheer sleeves are going to be sewn to a sheer armhole, I will set the sleeves in with french seams. It will look better and since this fabric is a little scratchy it reminds me of my first ballet recital in Kindergarten, when I wore this white peasant blouse may mother made me with the scratchiest armholes of my life. All the mothers were given the fabric, so I can't blame her, but my strongest memory of the day was of itchy shoulders and armpits.

So that is another reason why I want to use a french seam. All the pointy stiff fibers will be bent inward, not at the skin of the wearer.

First sew the sleeves together with french seams and do two rows of easing stitches along the sleeve cap, one 1/4" from the edge and the other 5/8".

The edge will be frayed and stringy.

For the first stitching, pin the sleeve to the armhole WRONG SIDES TOGETHER, pull up easing threads and stitch 1/4" away from the edge.

Trim it neatly to a little less than 1/4".

Now turn it so the right sides are now facing one another and stitch the seam a second time with a 3/8" seam allowance. Sewing with 1/4" for the first part of the seam and then 3/8" for the second will give you the standard 5/8" seam most patterns use.

This will make the sleeve look good on the inside and out.

Assemble the skirt leaving the back seam open for now. You can leave the right front seam open to just above the knee for a walking slit, if you want. Gather and sew the skirt to the bodice.

Before the trim can be applied, the cape has to be sewn on. Gather and pin the cape over the upper edge of the lower bodice starting at the pin going around to the back. Repeat for the other side.

OH YEAH ... this is where I had to fix the mistake from yesterday. When assembling the cape, I sewed the back seam all the way up to the top. Now I have to carefully pick it open down to the point where the zipper will stop. The cape is not going to be sewn with the zipper, but it has to be able to open at its back seam so the dress can be taken on and off.

The front edge and the open part of the back seam of the cape need narrow double fold hems. I just stitched these by machine.

This is a photo of the back of the finished dress. See how the cape's back opening is hemmed and is separate from the zipper.

When pinning the upper edge of the cape to the dress, be sure to have at the back edge of the cape 5/8" away from the center back seam to allow for the zipper.

Zig zag the cape right over the cut edge of the lower bodice and trim any excess that is sticking above and pull out any gathering stitches. They aren't needed any more.

Now the braid trim can be sewn along the upper and lower edges of the lower bodice which will cover all the stitching lines for the cape. Please note ... this photo shows the braid just lying on top, not actually sewn. I'm not THAT sloppy!

Leave the braid loose near the back seam for the zipper. After it is set in, the braid should be folded band and hand sewn neatly.

Try the dress on and mark the skirt and sleeve hems. Slip stitch around the walking slit in the skirt, if you left the front seam open for that.

Double fold and slip stitch the sleeve hem.

And now I've decided to add some more glitter dots using the darker of my blue glitter glue. I put some on all the pieces made of sheer fabric.

DONE.

Tomorrow something for ME. I need a break from Frozen. But all next week I will be making Anna's winter dress and cape.

Elsa's Snow Queen dress should have sparkly snow flakes all over it. Now, if you are lucky you can find some fabric that is sparkly enough and you can skip this part. But, if you can't find sparkly fabric you like or you want control the look of snow flakes, then I hope this blog will help.

Here is the cape for my little Elsa Snow Queen with the snow flakes drying.

I did some tests before deciding how I would make all these snowflakes.

The quickest way would be to buy snowflake shaped sequins and glue them on. But, they are small ... I saw an Elsa costume that had snow flakes cut out of glitzy fabric and glued on, so that's another option.

But, I wanted to give glitter glue a try. So I printed out some snowflake graphics from the internet to use as a guide and I think this is the method for me.

The sleeves and the cape need snowflakes, but the two pieces of the cape need to be assembled first. And, because it is sheer fabric, a french seam should be used. This is kind of a double seam. The fabric is first put together with the wrong sides together and a very narrow seam is stitched (less than 1/4"). Press it flat. This makes is easier to then bring the right sides together and sew the second seam, slightly larger to totally encase the seam allowance of the first seam.

Here is my assembled cape ... BUT ... grrrr! I forgot to leave the seam open at the top to allow for it to part when the back zipper is opened. I will fix that later, but you should figure out how long of an opening is needed. This cape will be attached at the top of the aqua lower bodice in the back. So this seam needs to be left open the length of the lower back bodice back seam, plus how ever far down the skirt seam the zipper goes, usually about 7 -9 inches for an adult, maybe 6 for a small child.

Before starting on the snowflakes I round off that point on the bottom.

I made up a sheet with a basic snowflake in a bunch of sizes. Save it and print it out. It should print to fill an 8 1/2" by 11" sheet of paper.

Lay the pieces that need snowflakes over a sheet of clear plastic, a dry cleaner bag would work, and slip the paper with snowflakes under the plastic. I started with the sleeves using some of the smaller snowflakes.

The lines will be a bit wiggly but remember, every snowflake is different! And these hand drawn snowflakes will all be very different.

This glitter glue is REALLY thick, so I have two bottles going, so the goop can slide towards the tip on one while I'm using the other.

I put the snowflakes randomly on the sleeves, but tried to plan them out a bit more for the cape ...

using the largest ones at the bottom, checking distances with a ruler to make sure they are evenly spaced. Then progressing to smaller snowflakes moving up.

I had a small bottle of a slightly darker shade of blue glitter and decided to just put dots of that all over. This seems to give it a little more depth and interest, just something that felt right.

I'm stopping now. More can be applied later if I want. Anyway, my hand is tired from squeezing those little bottles.

One more thing ... this stuff takes FOREVER to dry, at least a day. It will dry faster if it can get air circulation from both sides. So, if possible, find a way to carefully lift the pieces and hang them somehow where they won't be touching anything.

Again ... be careful ... you don't want to ruin all your beautiful work.

This dress has many pieces made with sheer fabric, so tomorrow I'm going to share some sheer fabric sewing tips.

Even though it's a child size dress, everything I'm doing will work for any of the sizes.

To make this dress you will need: * Sheer fabric for the upper bodice, sleeves and attached cape* Aqua fabric for the lower bodice and skirt* a glitzy net or lace fabric to go over the lower bodice.* Fusible interfacing for the lower bodice pieces and the collar* Flexible braid for upper and lower edge of the lower bodice (about 1/2" wide)* a zipper* Glitter glue in one or two colors for the snow flakesor snowflake shaped sequins and glue

Again, you can either over estimate fabric amounts using the back of the pattern envelope as a guide, which is what I did and now I have a bunch of extra fabric or, if you have time, the smart thing to do is make all the pattern changes and then do a trial layout before going shopping to figure out how much fabric and trims are actually needed.

The bodice gets the main change. Both front and back need to be divided into upper and lower parts. I am going to use the lap method. It is much easier when you have a curved shape and the join is going to be covered with trim anyway.

So, first, take the front and back bodice pieces.

Trace out the size you need. If you think there are going to be any fitting issues, fix them now. Make a muslin of the bodice, if necessary and make whatever changes you made on your paper pattern.

I usually use poster paper when I make a pattern, but I bought some gift wrapping type white tissue at Target and it is pretty sturdy AND it is really easy to see through, so that is what I am using this time.

Cut the pieces out and use a ruler to mark in the stitching lines ... 5/8" from the cut edge. Knowing where the seam lines are makes changing a pattern much, much easier.

Now, draw a preliminary line for what will be the upper edge of the lower bodice. It should start close to the bottom of the armhole curve up and over the breast area and end in a "Vee" in the center front.

Try it on the person the dress is being made for. It will be easier to properly line up, if you have copied the waist mark from the pattern. I'm lucky, my model stands very still.

If this is being made for a grown woman, you should probably pin the bust dart when trying on this paper pattern.

If you don't like the line you've drawn, change it! I moved my line up about 1/2". Again, this is very easy on a dress form ... but you really need to see the shape on the figure to know if it looks right, even if you can only get a sketchy mark when it is up against a human body.

Finalize your lines ...

and cut the pattern pieces into upper and lower sections along these lines. And, I suggest, give each piece a name, so you don't mix them up or think they are a scrap of paper and throw one out ... And you can only guess why I give you this warning. Any mistake that can have been made, I've made at least once in my life!

Now you need to add a 1" extension to the bottom of the front and back "upper bodice" pieces. Tape on a strip of paper and then use a ruler to mark and then cut an extra 1" which will become your underlap when the upper and lower parts of the bodice are joined.

﻿Here they are finished.﻿

For the attached cape, I've made a diagram. It is for a modest cape, but it can be cut larger and longer. But, the larger and longer it is, the more snowflakes will need to be applied ... just say'n ... (tomorrow's blog).

The all important measurements are the the distance from the armpit to the floor and the chest measurement.

Here is my cape all cut out. I added a couple inches on the bottom. I'd rather have too much than not enough.

The skirt for this costume shouldn't be as full as the skirt from the pattern I'm using. I suggest it be reduced in size by about a third. But, because the front of the skirt dips down in the center to go with the pointed waist line of the bodice, the fullness needs to be taken out in a few places evenly across the whole pattern. Here I have drawn 1" parallel lines that will become parallel folds with 2" between.

This is what it will look like. Just smooth out the top edge when cutting the skirt out.

Since the side/back skirt is just a rectangle it is easy to fold out one third of the width on one side, but remember this pattern piece still needs to be cut on the fold.

So, this is what you should have when finished cutting. from the sheer fabric: upper front bodice, upper back bodice, sleeves and cape from the aqua: lower front bodice, lower back bodice, front skirt and 2 side/back skirts from the glitzy net overlay fabric: lower front bodice and lower back bodice And lower front bodice and lower back bodice out of fusible interfacing

Elsa's dresses need crowns! I've experimented around a bit and have two crowns you can try. One that sits on top of the head and one that is attached to a plastic headband.

Just a note ... these crowns were pretty quick to make because I just used cardboard, but if you use sturdier materials, you will have a sturdier crown. But, this the kind of crown I would make for a "dress up" costume.

Below are the templates for these two crowns in Jpeg and Word. Please change the size so it works best for you or your Elsa.

Draw a line in the center before cutting the template out. That way you only have to cut half of it.

So, when you are tracing it onto the card stock or whatever material the crown will be made out of, simply flip the template to get both sides.

I used card stock from the scrapbook isle at Joann's for one crown and cut up a gift box for the other one with added glitter. The scrapbook isle card stock was really too wimpy. I should have doubled it with something. So, I recommend you do, if that is what you end up using. The cup up gift box with glue and glitter was stronger. But consider other materials. I know one person used a quart yogurt container and cut the crown shape into it. So ... I'm just showing you one way to do this.

I find Exacto knives very slow going for me, so I cut as much as I can with scissors, then get all the tricky parts with an Exacto knife.

Here are my two crowns all cut out.

The one cut out of card stock is already sparkly, I simply glue some bias tape (or ribbon would work) to the inside of the bottom edge for stability. Also, this will be something I can sew into. I paper clipped it into a circle in hopes it will dry to a nice round shape.

Now I can sew a small comb to the front to hold the crown that can go into the hair to keep the crown on.

This is the back side of the finished crown. You can see I painted the back. The white looked too glaring and I ended up using staples to keep it together. If I wanted to spend more time, I bet a coating of glue and glitter on this crown would make it stronger. Or maybe some wire glued under the bias tape???

Now, the cut up gift box is stronger cardboard to start off with. I'm using a cardboard scrap to smooth the glue.

Then I liberally dumped glitter on the wet glue and pressed it in gently with my fingers.

After the glue dried, I knocked off any loose glitter, but know that I will be seeing glitter around my house for the next several weeks ... this is just what glitter does!

Now all the little tabs can be folded and the crown can be glued to a head band. I glued it on the bottom side, but it also could be glued on the top side. Does what works best for the headband you have. I found this easier to do if the headband was slightly stretched open, which I did by placing it around the little box I keep my embroidery thread in.

I also glued some silver ribbon to the outside of the headband and ... even thought this photo doesn't show it, I glued some white bias tape on the inside to cover the cardboard.

This style of crown might be easier to wear than the other, especially for a young girl.

BUT ... wait! I don't have a dress for this crown yet.

So that is what will be happening over the next three days, Snow Queen dress cutting, putting on the snowflakes and then sewing.